22 Faith is a golden goose

The Goose that Laid Golden Eggs: A couple had the good fortune to possess a remarkable goose that laid a golden egg every day. Though happy initially, they soon got tired of waiting for just one golden egg per day. They decided to cut open the goose and collect all the gold inside the goose. Alas! When they killed the goose and cut it up, it was just like any other goose. They lost even the little gold they used to get earlier.

Swami Harinath was famous for his herbal remedy for chronic joint diseases. The potion was processed with great care and took 48 days to prepare. Every patient had to keep it in the prayer room for three days and then consume it. Every dose was accompanied by meditation and chanting of some slokas. The Swami could attend to only a few cases at a time. He had a long waiting list of hopeful patients.

After his demise, his associates decided to speed up things, cater to all the clients and make quick money. The Swami's caution 'not to change anything' was forgotten. They got the potion analysed, mass-produced it and marketed it all over India. The potion failed miserably and soon they were bankrupt.

Comments

Foolishness of the greedy act seems obvious enough but greed, like anger, blinds one to reality. The swami had realised that faith was the most important element that made his remedy a success. Perhaps he also knew that a 'scientific scrutiny' of faith based healing agents is like dissecting the golden goose - nothing will be found!

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Faith is a major force in healing, especially in chronic diseases. Dr S. Kakkar has analysed these powerful persuasive healing forces in his scholarly book "Shamans, Mystics and Doctors.” Wickenburg consensus has suggested that 80% of healing in ambulatory practice is faith based and only 20% could be ascribed to rational intervention. The faith could be on a Supreme Force, oneself, a health care system, a healer, a physician, a procedure or on a medication (see Chapter14).

How to incorporate these powerful healing forces into the rational and scientific practice of health care is one of the greatest challenges of the present. Clearly, a new paradigm is needed to merge the art and science of medical practice in an ethically acceptable way.

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